General Wolfgang Fischer, commander of the 10th Panzer Division, planned for the two German kampfgruppen in the north to take Tebourba after securing Chouigui and preventing Allied reinforcements from that direction. When those forces became bogged down the General became impatient and ordered his exploitation force into action as well.

Conclusion

In confused fighting the Royal Hampshires withstood the best the Wehrmacht could throw at them, including the vaunted Tiger tanks debuting for the first time in Africa. The Tigers should have made the difference but seem to have contented themselves with tormenting the displaced Stuarts. Whether losing their commander to a sniper early in the fighting caused them to lose focus is unknown, but General Fischer raged to his superiors about the low quality of the Wehrmacht infantry late into the night.

Display Relevant AFV Rules

AFV Rules Pertaining to this Scenario's Order of Battle

Vulnerable to results on the Assault Combat Chart (7.25, 7.63, ACC), and may be attacked by Anti-Tank fire (11.2, DFT). Anti-Tank fire only affects the individual unit fired upon (7.62, 11.0).

AFV's are activated by tank leaders (3.2, 3.3, 5.42, 6.8).
They may also be activated as part of an initial activating stack, but if activated in this way would need a tank
leader in order to carry out combat movement.

Full-strength AFV's with "armor efficiency" may make two anti-tank (AT) fire attacks per turn
(either in their action segment or during opportunity fire) if they have AT fire values of 0 or more
(11.2).

Each unit with an AT fire value of 2 or more may fire at targets at a distance of between 100% and 150% of its
printed AT range. It does so at half its AT fire value. (11.3)

Efficient and non-efficient AFV's may conduct two opportunity fires per turn if using direct fire
(7.44, 7.64).
Units with both Direct and AT Fire values may use either type of fire in the same turn as their opportunity fire,
but not both (7.22, 13.0).
Units which can take opportunity fire twice per turn do not have to target the same unit both times (13.0).

Demoralized AFV's are not required to flee from units that do not have AT fire values (14.3).

Place a Wreck marker when an AFV is eliminated in a bridge or town hex (16.3).

Open-top AFV's: Immune to M, M1 and M2 results on Direct and Bombardment Fire Tables, but DO take step losses from X and #X results (7.25, 7.41, 7.61, BT, DFT). If a "2X" or "3X" result is rolled, at least one of the step losses must be taken by an open-top AFV if present.

Closed-top AFV's: Immune to M, M1 and M2 results on Direct and Bombardment Fire Tables. Do not take step losses from Direct or Bombardment Fire. If X or #X result on Fire Table, make M morale check instead (7.25, 7.41, 7.61, BT, DFT).

Closed-top AFV's: Provide the +1 modifier on the Assault Table when combined with infantry. (Modifier only applies to Germans in all scenarios; Soviet Guards in scenarios taking place after 1942; Polish, US and Commonwealth in scenarios taking place after 1943.) (ACC)

Tank: all are closed-top and provide the +1 Assault bonus, when applicable

Self-Propelled Artillery: do not provide the +1 Assault bonus, even if closed-top (SB)

Anti-Aircraft Weapon Carrier: apply a -1 modifier to an air attack if within three hexes of the targeted hex (15.14).

APC – Armored Personnel Carrier: These are Combat Units, but stack like Transports. They can transport personnel units or towed units. They are not counted as combat units for the +1 stacking modifier on the Direct Fire and Bombardment Tables (4.4). They may be activated by regular leaders and tank leaders (1.2, 3.34, 4.3, 5.43). They do not provide the +1 Assault bonus (ACC).

There is something about trying to take on Tigers with Lees and Stuarts. The Allies have a lot of territory to cover in this one, with few units to do it with. I set up the 3 Lees forward on board 77 to try to trade shots and slow down the German advance. The British troops were deployed on hills on board 78, with the 6pdr and an infantry dug in on the edge of the wadi to try to get a shot at anything moving down the road. With the amount of turns, there was little need for the Germans to stay on the road, even the trucks could manage the slower off-road rate and the infantry ended in a position to exit within 2 turns had they been needed to achieve he 10-point exit target. I brought the Germans on, infantry in line, on the north half, Fallschirmjaegers on the south side, trucks towing guns along with the FJs with the plan of moving the 88 and 20mm guns up to a good hill spot in the rocky saddle of the southwest hill mass while the rest of the trucks and towed guns kept on heading west as part of the exit element. The 88 and 20mm guns got into position on turn 2 but couldnt get unloaded before the US got a shot off at them from one of the Lees. Bang, 2 dead trucks, with 88s and 20mm guns right along with them. Next, another forward Lee got a shot at the Pz III, reducing it but failing to disrupt or demoralize the surviving tanks. That was the last of the fun for the Lees, as the Tigers got into position and destroyed 2 steps of Lee with one shot and a single step of one just a bit further away with a second. The Mk III finished off the second Lee unit. German infantry on both flanks moved forward unopposed while the 3rd Lee tried to get into position to shoot up other trucks, but only managed to demoralize one before getting a step loss to the 75mm AT gun and then being finished off in assault bo the Fallschirmjaegers. Massed German infantry were storming the first hill on board 78 when the reinforcements arrived. The Tiger, having been targetted for assault by British troops from both the hill and from the wadi, and having shown them the error of their decision (being demoralized by adjacent hex 88mm fire), it turned and started killing Stuarts at a range of 7 hexes, easily killing outright every other shot and reducing the ones in between. Surviving Stuarts along with the British Crusader ran to assault German infantry to prevent the Tiger from killing more, but the Tiger just shifted fire and killed one of the M-3 units and killed a step of another, leaving only the M-3/81 to offer fire support, and then only for a turn before it also was destroyed along with the other M-3 step. Stuarts and the Crusader traded step losses, but the German infantry came out on top when the last Stuarts were left burning on the hill. By now, the German trucks and towed guns were exiting the board, the German SK 10/4 and the Mk III were assaulting the single British unit on the southeast hill and winning, and German air and OBA were taking a toll on the British troops holding the northeast hill. The FJs lost all their leaders attempting to assault the British AT gun, bren carrier and 2 steps of surviving British infantry that had fled back to cover after the Tigers quit shooting at them, but survived sitting in the adjacent hex exchanging fire, turn after turn, killing off all but the bren carrier and the 2 British leaders there, until more German infantry came south from the first hill. In 2 turns, the last British in the wadi and in the northwest hill had been eliminated, that happening on turn 19. The Tiger, not seeing more armor targets and getting board, headed off the board to fill out the last 3 points needed for exit conditions. Germans managed to pull off 2 of the 3 conditions, having lost 12 steps, but having destroyed or driven off all but 2 British leaders. German marginal win. Honestly, at the halfway point, it wasnt looking like they would make it. I nearly stopped at the end of turn 10 because the assaults in the center seemed to have bogged down and the Germans didn't look like they could get 2 of 3 conditions, or even one at the moment, but playing on proved they could do it. British infantry, even single steps, lasted a long time, and a single step unit in the northwest hill rolled an 11 and a 2, delaying two stacks that were headed towards assaulting it. Real nail biter, with no real effect from allied airpower but several moments when the German airpower did major damage, and both sides called in danger close fire missions and lucked out on friendly fire every time. Great game.

Great Scenario. The Germans have only two main tanks, one Tiger and one IIIN, while the Allies have Lees and a ton of Stuarts as reinforcements. The Germans need to use caution and keep the tanks and infantry working together, or the attack will stall. The allies should probably use the limiting terrain of the Wadis to launch surprise tank moves, and the infantry should block the road and/or occupy the rocky ground on the victory hills.

In my game I played with FOW which had a huge impact on the outcome. The Tiger advanced over a ridge and immediately rolled a 16. Germans moved first the next turn and with two dice rolls the Tiger killed two Lee units outright. Without FOW, the Lee units could have retired to hexes out of LOS or out of spotting range.

From there the Germans marched on pretty methodically, a minor victory was never in doubt, but they got the major win by clearing the hills on the last activation of the last turn.

The "roll a 5-6" every turn reinforement mechanism makes this a tough one to balance but I think its pretty fairly even...the Germans have to keep combined arms in mind and move methodically, while the Allies have to understand terrain and think of aggressive ambushes. Unique, interesting, challening, fun to play either side, a ranked it a full on, enthusiastic 5.

The recently landed 10th Panzer Division had been split into four strike groups by its commander, General Wolfgang Fischer. One group had successfully taken Chouigui (AAaD Scenario # 5), while another moved east from Djédeïda toward Tébourba, which was currently held by an Anglo-American force from the 2nd Royal Hampshire Battalion and Combat Command B of the US 1st Armored Division. Elements of the 10th Panzer Division and the Panzer Division Herman Göring encountered the Allies at noon on December 1. The Allied forces were dug in on hills both north and south of the primary east/west road on Map #77. German infantry and armor units moved west on both hills, while artillery platoons were held in reserve until the hills could be cleared. An SK.10/4 platoon that was supporting paratrooper units on the NE hill was destroyed by a remarkably accurate shot from a British 6-pounder on west end of the SE hill. The British foot units on the north hill retreated west, but those on the south hill doggedly held on, slowing the German advance. At 1245, elements from the Blade Force began arriving from the north and moved to cut off the German artillery convoy that had just emerged from the east. A Tiger platoon moved back from the south hill to protect the convoy, while the artillery platoons quickly unlimbered their guns. By 1315, 3 Stuart platoons had been eliminated and the remainder of the Blade Force reinforcements fell back to cover on the north side of the NE hill. Then German mortars took out the 6-pounder platoon, and a Pz.IIIN platoon that had survived multiple volleys from a dug-in M3 Lee destroyed another Stuart unit. While the German Tiger and Pz.IIIN platoons continued to decimate Stuart and Lee platoons on the north side of the road, a convoy of German artillery moved forward to command the NE hill. An 88 on the SE hill destroyed a Crusader platoon that was providing support to the British infantry and weapon units there, but they still held fast on the hill until they were called back toward the SW hills at 1545 to help stem the German tide moving westward along the road. Stuart and Lee platoons attempted to catch the Tiger in a crossfire, but they were destroyed by a combination of fire from the German anti-tank guns and the Tiger before any significant damage occurred. At 1615, German units broke through to the west and the battle was lost, with the Germans achieving a minor victory.

The objectives of this scenario are three fold: no Allied units on the hills of Board # 78, 10 German steps exited west, and not to lose more than 10 German steps. The Germans need to reach two of the three objectives for a minor victory, and all three for a major victory. The game was extremely close to a major German victory, but the British units that held out for so long on the southeast hill were able to drop back, protected by a ridge and hold a hill hex in the extreme SW corner. Otherwise, the Germans controlled the board. The survival of the Bren was key for the British maneuverability, as it could quickly move a leader and infantry platoon out of range of the German firepower. Since the Tiger unit is pretty impregnable in this scenario, the best thing to do is stay out of the way, although one could gamble with a swarm assault if sufficient forces could be mobilized and could get close enough without serious casualties to do so. A platoon or two of fallschirmjager makes the latter a very questionable strategy, and one not tried in this case. The scenario was tenser than one might expect, as the Germans exited the last 5 points needed on Turn 20, and ended up with nine steps lost (compared to the 51 steps lost by the Allies), so the minor victory was hard fought.

In this battle, a British infantry company, supported by an American Grant company, must hold off about a battalion of mixed German infantry and paratroopers. The Germans also have some AT gun support and a platoon each of PzIII and Tigers.

The Germans must capture all the hills on their half of the two-board layout, and exit 10 steps off the far edge. The Allies must stop them, and will have a full Stuart battalion with support arrive as reinforcements, to help them do it.

With the arrival of Allied reinforcements weighing heavily on the Germans mind, they aggressively attacked the two hills being held by dug in Allied troops. It did not go well. Limited Allied airpower did a banner job of hindering and killing the German infantry, along with some truly devastating opp fire. Over the course of three hours, the paratrooper company at one hill and the infantry battalion(-) at the other completely wore themselves out trying to defeat the dug in Allies. The Allied Grants took a beating from the Tiger, as did a company of Stuarts when the gamely tried to set up a Tiger crossfire, but that is about all the Allies lost.

The Germans would have probably done better with a more deliberate preparation before the assault (my most common tactical error) but they were very exposed and I'm leery of taking a pounding without being able to reply.